Historic Raleigh Tour

Join us every other Saturday for TRT’s Historic Raleigh tour – now the Raleigh Sightseeing City Bus Tour & Tasting. Tobacco Road Tours take you to where Raleigh’s roots began & where the City has evolved today.

North Carolina’s “Triangle”, with some of the United States best historical markers, culture, architecture, food and stories await you as we travel the “City of Oaks” on TRT’s Historic Raleigh tour.

Created as one Americas earliest planned cities, Raleigh, was established in 1792 as the permanent seat of government for the state of North Carolina.

Testimonial: “The owner/driver/guide (I think his name is Brad) was great. Very knowledgeable, amusing, considerate, flexible. Would definitely recommend.”

Carved out of an oak forest on a 1,000 acres of land purchased from Wake County plantation owner Joel Lane. The new town struggled in its early years, hampered by poor transportation modes, a lack of economic enterprises beyond state government in 1831 the loss of the original state house in a disastrous fire. Following the civil war, the city slowly recovered economically, as its main retail venue Fayetteville Street became the commercial capitol in eastern North Carolina. The advent of the street car system in the 1880’s and the establishment of no fewer than 6 institution of higher learning by 1899 made possible a comfortably middle class population in the absence of heavy industry and home grown industry magnets.

Register in advance. If you are trying to register for a tour the morning of, please call (919) 371-2653 to check availability. Sorry, no exchanges or refunds. If we have to cancel the tour due to extreme weather, we will refund your money.

Please note gratuity is not included in the ticket price. Our guides appreciate gratuities or TIPS where earned.

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Why ‘Tobacco Road’

Used by the Native American tribes during important ceremonies, tobacco has been a mainstay agricultural crop since the 1600s and grown throughout the Sandhills, Piedmont and Mountain regions of North Carolina. North Carolina is still the number one producer of tobacco in the US.

The name 'Tobacco Road' traditionally means "a squalid poverty stricken rural area or county." Most tobacco farms in the south were owned by families and located in small, rural areas. 'Tobacco Road' was dubbed by the media when referring to the many Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams in close proximity off old US-Hwy 70: Duke, NC State, UNC and Wake Forest.Read more about Tobacco Road Tours